The War of the Three Queens
by inclelucy
Summary: After the Great War was won, The Mother of Dragons is now set to take back what she thinks is rightfully hers. Cersei Lannister prepares to defend her throne, and another queen- in all but name, vows to do everything to fight for her country's independence.
1. Little Dove

Chapter 1: Little Dove

"Your Grace, a raven arrived." Qyburn announces as he walks towards the queen.

"And…? Is she with them now? Are they on their way back?" Cersei replies as she turns around hiding the excitement in her voice.

"I'm... afraid not, Your Grace, they said the undead got there first and the castle was already burning when they arrived. The Lady of Winterfell, Sansa Stark... is dead." Aside from the raven they received, word of the lady's demise travelled fast as the people of the North go south for refuge.

"Are they certain it's her?" The Queen inquired acidly, gripping the back of the chair before her, her back slouching as if in defeat.

"Her... body was quite mangled, so they had to wait for confirmation. Their spy informed them that it was indeed Lady Stark, and at this very moment the North grieves for her loss." The maester answered rather cautiously. He knows how direly her queen wanted this. How the queen feels Sansa Stark should be hers to kill. After all, she became an instrument in murdering her first born. He finds the queen straightening her back again after a minute of losing her composure.

"I would have wanted to see her alive first. I had a lot of plans in mind." Cersei says as she slowly walks into the front of her chair and sits down.

She heaves a big sigh then asks, "And what of the undead? And the dragons?" The queen asked, knowing that despite her disappointment, they have other matters to discuss.

"The undead was defeated, and though both dragons are still alive, they've lost more than half of their army, but...there's one more news, of utmost importance Your Grace." Qyburn professed.

"What is it now?" Cersei retorted as though she's not interested in anything else besides the Targaryen girl.

"There have been rumors of Jon Snow riding a dragon during the battle with the undead. As you see, upon studying these creatures, I learned that dragons can only bond with and be ridden by a person who has Targaryen blood." Qyburn reports almost scandalously as his queen takes a deep breath staring at him as if he just grew two horns.

"And…?" The queen demands him to continue.

"It seems that Ned Stark's bastard wasn't his bastard after all. Taking into account his age and the mystery behind Lyanna Stark's death, Jon Snow could very well be her son with Rhaegar Targaryen." The hand claimed.

As he finishes, Cersei thinks of how the honorable Ned Stark had to lie to the realm to protect their son from Robert's wrath. She would have loved to see her late husband's reaction to that. Now she seethes with anger as she realizes that because of Ned Stark's lie, another enemy appeared from the snows of the North.

"A dragon raised by wolves?" It almost seems like a jest, and Cersei laughs mockingly to the world. She doesn't need further proof for it. She feels in her bones that it is true.

"I remember how the Lannisters and the Starks rallied behind Robert to end the Targaryen dynasty... And now he and his aunt are working together to take back the Iron Throne, the same throne where his grandfather and uncle's murderer once sat upon? He really is not Ned Stark's son after all..." Cersei rekindled while shaking her head.

"There are rumors of an estrangement happening between the two your grace, my sources said Daenerys views Jon Snow as a threat to her claim especially now that one of her dragons has found its own rider." Qyburn commented earning a smirk from the Lannister queen.

"And we have to take advantage of that... One less dragon for her, one less weapon against me. If he's helping the Targaryen girl, whether trueborn or bastard, that means he doesn't want the Iron Throne for himself." Cersei concludes.

"You can vow not to lay claim to the North and recognize its independence if he withdraws the Northern Forces. You can naturalize him as a Stark now that Sansa Stark's dead. He can be King in the North again." Qyburn proposes.

But the Lannister queen doesn't know the boy enough to assume where his loyalty truly lies. After all, the arrogant bastard already declined the same proposal in the dragon pit all the while declaring he's already bent the knee to the tyrant.

"That's not enough. We cannot guarantee that he won't betray me. We need a leverage against him. If we don't then he's better off dead. I don't want another Targaryen in our midst. And I want him gone now... Send-"

_knock knock knock_

"Let me see to it first, Your Grace..." Qyburn mumbles as he withdraws from the queen and heads outside to see who might have the decency to interrupt his meeting with the queen. Cersei stands up and starts pacing around the room while waiting for her Hand as she thinks of ways to get rid of Rhaegar's son, until the door opens, and she stops on her tracks and faces it. Qyburn returns alone with a beaming smile.

"My queen, Ser Bronn has arrived." And Cersei thinks, _this is it_, her victory against the two men who committed treason against her.

"My traitor brothers?" She aked, her whole body shaking from anticipation.

"He didn't find them but-"

"Send him to the black cells!" She couldn't even let him finish, for her anger towards the useless sellsword gives rise first. Despite her fury, her Hand keeps looking at her with a pleased smile and she furrows her brows and finally lets him speak as she breathes unevenly.

"He came back with a gift Your Grace, an unexpected visitor from the North, and she could very well be your leverage against the Targaryen boy." Qyburn reveals, and she feels the hairs in her back rise not from the cold of winter but from the elation of knowing she would have that weapon against another usurper.

"Let her in..." She whispers.

Qyburn retreats again and she can hear the voices of three men speaking. Qyburn comes back holding a woman by the arm with a small black woolcloth covering her head and shoulders. She has no idea who this woman is, but then she saw her hair, peeking through the ends of the cloth and she smiles.

_I know that red hair._

"Your Grace, may I present to you, the lady of Winterfell, and the very much alive..." Qyburn declares as he takes off the cloth from her head.

"Sansa Stark."

The Queen doesn't move but she looks at her from head to toe. A whirlwind of memories of this silly little girl come upon her along with flashbacks of her son dying during his wedding. She can already imagine the different ways she can kill her, but she has to set those aside, for now the Stark girl has yet another purpose to serve.

She is a pawn in the game of thrones just like before... She looks at her with amusement and she sees this woman is not the Sansa Stark she once knew. She looks disheveled with a bruise on her left cheek, and her braids falling off. The girl she once knew would be crying by now, but this one doesn't look scared as she stares at her piercingly.

But she broke her before. She can break her again.

"Hello, little dove..."


	2. Now We Wait

Now We Wait

...

Sansa looks at the capital through the window, and remembers all the unpleasant memories that happened to her in the past.

She swore never to set foot in King's Landing again while Cersei's queen, but now she's here again, and still alive.

_They think I'm already dead_.

She wonders if Jon feels woeful at the thought of her demise, and she thinks Daenerys must be quite pleased.

_But not for long_.

Her thoughts are disrupted when the door opens. She turns around to see Cersei enter the chamber with her Hand and Ser Gregor in tow.

"How are you Lady Sansa? Is everything to your liking?" Cersei inquired looking around the room. Sansa just stands there looking anguished but calculating. She looks at her now, _really_ looks at her, and she realizes that the Queen, aside from her hair and choice of clothing, didn't change much.

"I don't remember my Hand telling me you've lost your tongue. Or would you like a little encouragement?" Cersei threatens when Sansa doesn't say anything.

"Ser Gregor?" Cersei tilts her head to the side and Ser Gregor makes a move to step forward. Sansa widens her eyes and tilts her chin up as if challenging the peculiar knight. Cersei raises her hand and the knight comes to a halt. Cersei looks at Sansa again.

"Speak." Cersei says and Sansa acknowledges the same viper in her voice. She knows she has to talk now lest she wants to anger her further.

"When I was told I was being taken to King's Landing under your command I've prepared myself for a thousand different ways to die. But now you've clothed and fed me and given me my own bed chamber. Why is that?" Sansa asks.

"Well I did send some people to take you, but the men I've tasked to do that failed as did Ser Bronn in his own, but at least he brought you here." Cersei relates as she walks towards the table in the middle of the room and sits on one of the chairs. She gestures for Sansa to do the same and she did reluctantly. On the way to King's Landing, she expected she'd probably be in the black cells by now. But here she is sitting with the queen, who, in normal circumstances should have been drinking glass after glass of wine by now, but instead she notices Cersei folding her hands in front of her belly.

"They said you were dead." Cersei queries after Sansa settles down in her seat.

"It was Alys Karstark. I saw it myself, how she was ravaged by the undead." Sansa answered bluntly. The girl she once was would have been mortified by the memory, but she had seen worse deaths. Cersei squints her eye at Sansa and realizes she's grown, not just taller, but mostly in demeanor. Cersei wonders what horrors came across the little dove, but feels no pity towards her. The she-wolf deserves it.

"You look different. You sound different. But you can't fool me with your façade. Deep inside I know you're still the silly, stupid girl you once were, and I must say I felt unhappy when I heard the news. You cannot imagine how many times I've waited for this moment. For the Stark bitch to be in my clutches again, how I wanted to see you in pain, how-"

"But you've changed your mind. Why?" Sansa cuts in which made Cersei furrow her brows obviously not happy with the interruption. Not many people can do that to the queen, but answers her nonetheless.

"Because you are now a valuable asset in keeping my throne." She declared.

"What do you mean?" She is sure Cersei doesn't mean to trade her life for Daenerys to give up her claim to the Iron Throne because it will surely be for naught.

"Maester Qyburn…" Cersei signals to her hand who then produces a scroll from his cloak.

"Sign it. If he doesn't want your head on a spike then he will come to King's Landing alone at once." The letter requests, _demands_, Jon Snow to come to King's Landing and talk about matters of the crown and the Lady of Winterfell.

"And what would you want from Jon Snow?" Sansa inquires after reading the letter.

"An alliance, a truce… it depends on whose bastard he really is. Or if he really is a bastard." Cersei answers hastily then smiles slowly when she realizes Sansa doesn't know a thing about her cousin's parentage at all.

"Oh you don't know?" Cersei laughs, the one that she used to make when she was already deep in her cups. It would sound pleasing to the ears of others, but Sansa knows it means to mock.

"Jon Snow is not your brother, little dove. Allegedly, he is Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen's bastard son. And I heard your cousin rides a dragon," Cersei waits for the realization to dawn on Sansa but Sansa, in her shock, feels so many things, but knows that she can't satisfy Cersei with her anguish so she doesn't budge. Cersei frowns and decides to continue to torment her more as she places her hands on top of the table and leans forward to Sansa. She knows just what Sansa is thinking.

"Yes little dove, your honorable father Ned Stark lied to all of you to protect your cousin…" Cersei professes and Sansa takes a deep breath, her chin shaking in anger for she doesn't want her father's name to ever come out of Cersei's filthy mouth. Cersei smirks and goes on… "Even to your mother, Lady Catelyn..." and Sansa cannot hold it no more.

"You're lying!" Sansa shouts. And Cersei laughs even more. _This changes everything, _Sansa thinks. _Jon is not my brother. He's my_\- _What if he's not a bastard? He's in danger, he can't come here. Does Daenerys know? _

"You can ask him yourself, once he's here." Cersei stated eyeing the quill that lies on the table.

_I need to think. Father would need me to protect him, but how can I do that when he's not here? Think! _And then she looks at Cersei, and remembers one thing she and Daenerys have in common. Their greed. She has to give her something. Jon would not betray Daenerys, but with Cersei's army she will definitely win, unless Daenerys storms the Red Keep with her dragons. _No, Jon won't let her._

"You don't need him. Jon Snow swore a vow to fight for Daenerys once the undead are defeated. He is loyal to her. He will not abandon her. He knows the people of the north will bleed if he turns his back on the Targaryen queen." Sansa pronounces, and surprisingly Cersei seems to listen, so she continues.

"He bent the knee for the North, because he had to. Even if it means giving it away to a conqueror who knows nothing about its people. You should have seen how she burned Winterfell with her dragons. How my people and even her own died and burned because of her wrath. But The North Remembers. You don't need Jon Snow, but if you kill me, you will lose the support of more than half of the realm you could have gained."

"I could have gained?"

"My people follow Jon and his Targaryen Queen because they think I'm dead. But after what they've seen, one word from me, and the armies of the North will happily pack their bags and leave. Riverrun is being retaken by the knights of the Vale as we speak. This is where the people of the North would settle in while the Northern Lords repair their castles. My uncle then becomes Lord Paramount of the Trident and with my cousin being Lord Protector of the Vale, I can vouch for you and they will bend the knee. They will fight beside you and protect the realm against Daenerys."

Cersei stands up and paces the room in contemplation. She stops and turns to look at Sansa.

"You would betray your own cousin?" Cersei challenged.

"He chose his side in the war, because he didn't have a choice. But I'm still alive and I'm making mine. I'm tired of letting a man making decisions for my House. I know you would understand. In times of peril, we women have to make the best of our circumstances. Don't you think it's about time we forget the past and make new alliances?" Sansa asserts taking advantage of Cersei's attention.

"In what condition?" Cersei asks. _Finally_.

"The North… After this war, it would be better for our Houses not to cross paths again. You know very well that the North cannot be ruled by an outsider. And my cousin…"

"What about him?" Cersei raises an eyebrow.

"After this war ends, and he's still alive, spare him." Sansa answers and Cersei scoffs.

"Why would I do that? He fought with my enemy, he's a would-be usurper, why would I let him live?" The queen retorted.

"Because he doesn't want the Iron Throne." Sansa replied with certainty. _Jon may be a Snow, or a Targaryen, but he will always be a Stark, he belongs to the North._

"So what? He will go back to the North, have a family, father bastards and how can I assure that those bastards won't lay claim to the crown in the future?" Cersei hurls back.

"Because they won't be bastards." _Oh gods, help me._

"You would naturalize him?" _I wish I could, but what if he's not a bastard? What else can I do to tie him to the North? What if-_

"No…" _I'm so sorry Jon._ "I… I shall marry him. Our children will be Starks and they would want nothing to do with the Iron Throne." _It's the only way I can protect you. It's the only way you can go home. _

"How can I trust you?"

"You have my word as a Stark!"

"Huh… You know if there's one thing I've learned Sansa, is that the Stark name is not as honorable as I once believed." Cersei states mockingly. The queen's hand then leans in to whisper something to her queen, and they both retreated several steps behind, obviously plotting what further steps need to be done. There has been a lot of changes, both to Cersei's and Sansa's plans and neither is backing down. Cersei and her hand concluded what they were talking about and walks forward again.

"If we're going to do this then it will be on my terms. I want Jon Snow to fly to the red keep and surrender that dragon so that I have one less of them to worry about. Once he gets here, he will marry you and bed you."

"You don't understand-" Sansa starts but gets cut off by the queen.

"Then you will write to your uncle and tell him to defend the Trident in my name and kill anyone who fights for Daenerys."

"The knights of the Vale, tell them to bring my traitor brothers here, and once Daenerys Targaryen is dead, only then can you and your bastard husband and all your people go back to that miserable winter land that you call home."

"What you're suggesting is impossible, Jon won't leave Daenerys now, he won't betray her! And Daenerys won't let Jon go, she's in love with him! He's the only man she listens to! You're already winning this war with your army! If Jon betrays her, she will storm the red keep with her dragons and burn the people of the capital! You don't need to risk the lives of innocent people! You don't need to risk the life of your child!" Sansa reasoned eyeing Cersei's belly. Cersei noticed and she puts one hand in it, as if protecting her unborn heir.

"And that is what I'm doing! Do you really think that your cousin can stop her from burning people? She's a Targaryen! She's going to be mad just like her father. You said it yourself, you saw how she burned your home to the ground, was Jon Snow able to stop her then? If we rid her one of her dragons there's a bigger chance for us to win." _Us. _Sansa notices.

"Jon will not risk the life of thousands of people just for me. He's in love with her." Sansa retorts not wanting to surrender.

"How heart-breaking." Cersei scoffs. "Well maybe if we show him some part of you he would… Let me see, a finger perhaps, or an ear?" Cersei speaks with wonder as if she isn't talking about torture and mutilation.

"But I assume we should let him know you're alive first." She says, almost excitingly.

"Her hair." Cersei says and Ser Gregor moves behind Sansa, draws his sword and cuts off a portion of Sansa Stark's braided hair.

"Have Ser Bronn ride to Dragonstone discreetly, with our terms and show this to Jon Snow. Tell him Lady Stark is waiting for her." Qyburn takes the braided hair from Ser Gregor and the scroll which Sansa Stark has just signed.

"We can send him every bit of his bride day by day if he's not here soon. That ought to motivate him."

"At once, Your Grace." Qyburn answers.

"Now we wait." Cersei says before she turns around and leaves the room.

_Now we wait_, Sansa muses, and she prays to the gods Jon would stay where he is.

….

It's the middle of the night when she hears a tapping sound on the floor. Sansa gets up abruptly and pulls the sheets to her chin. Slowly, she gets off the bed to listen to it more. It doesn't stop. She goes down on all fours and finally tracks where the sound comes from.

She crawls and lifts the small table on the foot of her bed and swipes the rug off the floor. The tapping continues as she finds a latch on the wooden board and unlocks it without hesitation. And as soon as she does, it props open and she stumbles backwards.

Then a man hitches himself up to the floor.

Ser Bronn appears and offers Sansa his hand.

"Lady Stark." He says with a clumsy vow and she takes his hand to get up. It takes a moment for her to register his face in the dark, and she frowns.

"Take it off." Sansa commands.

"My Lady?" Ser Bronn asks in confusion.

"Please." Sansa pleads. Ser Bronn rolls his eyes.

And he takes off his face.

"How are you?" Arya asks and Sansa envelopes her sister in an embrace.

…..


	3. We Are Wolves

**Chapter 3: We Are Wolves**

…..

"Where's Sansa?" Jon asks the lady knight as the people gather in the courtyard. They look at each other as Ser Brienne falls to the ground on her knees. Sam and Tormund look at each other anxiously but none of them are brave enough to tell him the truth. A great silence envelopes them all, a great contrast to what it was like minutes earlier, when all of them thought the world has come to an end. It was broken as Pod starts to sob as soon as the realization hits him.

"The crypts. You were with her. Where is she?" Jon asks Tyrion. He gulps before answering.

"We led the people out of the crypts and I didn't see her after." He remembers how he tried to hold on to her but the last thing he saw was her flaming hair as his brother Jaime took him to safety by the collar.

"Sansa!" Jon shouts as he starts to walk towards the nearest keep.

"Jon!" Arya calls and Jon stops on his tracks. He turns around and looks at her. Arya shakes her head looking morose. Jon's eyes widen in disbelief and his face fills with anguish. He looks at everyone around him and each person who catches his gaze flinches in fear.

"She's still alive, we have to find her! Search every keep, every chamber!" He barks at them as Daenerys and more people enter the courtyard.

"Jon, listen to me! I saw it with my own eyes. Before I reached the godswood. The wights got to her." Arya relays as she moves forward to him.

"How can you be sure it was her?" Jon questions as he marches towards Arya.

"You think I don't know my own sister?" Arya fires back.

"Where is she? I need to make sure it was her. You could have made a mistake! She could still be out there alive!" Jon shouts frantically as Daenerys watches curiously. She has seen Jon angry before, but never like this._ The dragon has woken_, she muses.

"I asked our people… to take her body and burn it..." Arya says reluctantly.

"No, no, no..." _ I need to see her one last time. _

"I had to do it. I wouldn't bear to see her rise as one of those monsters, Jon." Arya states with conviction. She knows it's true.

_I could have. For the last time, I would…for I know it would still be her, and I'd let her take me, _Jon mumbles.

"I should have been here with Sansa, I promised I would protect her." He declares but Arya knows Sansa wouldn't want Jon to risk his life for her.

"She wouldn't like that." Arya says.

_No she won't. She was stubborn and kind and brave. WAS. _

_And the truth hits Jon anew and he can't control his rage anymore._

He screams and trashes about, drawing his sword and hacking and slashing on the dead bodies around him.

Arya leaves first, and everyone else follows, until he's all alone.

Jon exhausts his last remaining strength, and he slumps to the ground and cries quietly, as if it's a crime to weep for a dead sister. _Cousin._

"Sansa… I'm sorry, Sansa…" He chants, as if she can hear him.

…

"What now?" Arya asks as soon as she enters Bran's chamber.

"They're in the Kingsroad, not very far away. Go." Bran replies.

Arya nods her head and makes for the door but she stops and turns around.

"We're a pack, but we have to go our separate ways for a while. Hold the North when Jon leaves for the south." She says.

"Arya...'' Bran retorts. Arya smiles. She likes it when her brother says her name, it sounds gentle and lovely when it comes from his mouth. But she knows what Bran would say, that he cannot be lord of anything. But things have changed now.

"The Night King is dead, and I know that there's still some part of the Bran we used to know slowly creeping its way back into you. Find him. Let him out. Please." Arya pleads and Bran looks away, but Arya moves closer to him to take his face with her hands and look at him straight in the eyes.

"You may be the three-eyed raven, but I used to be a faceless assassin, Jon used to be Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and Sansa had to bear different names to survive, but we're Starks. And there must always be one in Winterfell and right now I want you to be that Stark. It doesn't matter what else we all are, we're still one of the same thing. We're wolves." Arya declares. She lets his face go and stands upright.

"Besides, if you're not our little brother anymore, why would you warn Sansa and I about the gold cloaks?" Arya smirks which earns her a little smile from her brother.

"And Gendry?" Bran asks.

_He does know everything, doesn't he? _Arya muses.

"He'll have to stay here. To protect you." Bran nods in understanding. Arya gives him one last hug and heads to the door. She has one more person to say goodbye to.

….


End file.
